Darn the luck! Game 6 of what has thus far been a pretty great World Series had to go and get rained out yesterday. Whatever is a baseball fan to do? Two days with no baseball just seems unfair and, frankly, MLB needs to make it up to us.
OK, maybe this isn’t exactly a grave injustice, but it still kind of stinks. I don’t know about you, but I was always taught to try and make lemonade out of the lemons that life handed me and this untimely rain delay is no exception. MLB has already decided to make up for this rain delay by pushing Game 6 back to today and a potential Game 7 back to Friday, that is assuming the weather cooperates. If you ask me, that seems like too much waiting around and not nearly enough baseball. Fortunately this is an easy problem to solve. As Ernie Banks famously said, “let’s play two!”
Yep, that’s right a World Series doubleheader.
I know it sounds crazy at first, but mull it over for a bit and you will see the genius at play here. Having the final two games of the World Series played on the same day is as close as we could ever get to a national baseball holiday. A potential elimination game in the morning followed, hopefully, by an epic game seven that same evening. That’s six or seven hours of the highest of high stakes baseball for everyone to enjoy.
Sure, it would be better if the doubleheader were on a weekend, but the economy sucks anyway, so I’m sure nobody will notice if every baseball fan in America calls in “sick” for the day so they can stay home and watch some baseball.
What potentially pushes this idea over the top is the drama/chaos that would unfold during the first game as each manager makes excrutiating decisions on whether or not to burn out the bullpen in the first game or try and preserve some relievers for the nightcap. Considering that Ron Washington and Tony LaRussa have already micromanaged the bajeezus out of this series, there is a pretty good chance one of them might have a stroke as they try and fight the urge to use their fourth reliever of the inning. And that is just Game 6.
If the series gets to a Game 7 in the evening, then the drama shifts from the managerial side to the player side. With almost no time to decompress and get their heads right between games, the Rangers could be trapped in a glass case of emotion as they try not to buckle under the pressure of blowing the series while, conversely, the Cardinals would be riding the highest of highs after staving off elimination just hours earlier. To put it simply, the drama would be delicious.
Screw Fox and their precious TV ratings, this needs to happen.
